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Safeway to hold first meeting with Green

SAFEWAY and Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur, will this week hold what is believed to be their first official meeting since the BHS owner declared his interest in buying the supermarket chain in January.

Safeway sources said the company wanted to assess Green’s seriousness about bidding. They asked for a meeting a fortnight ago after one of Green’s advisers wrote to the company asking for further financial information.

A source close to the supermarket said of the meeting: “We feel entitled to some clarification on whether he is serious or not.”

The source said the information requested by the Green camp had already been sent to him as part of the figures that have been made available to all the interested bidders, including Wm Morrison, J Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda.

There is a growing feeling in the City that Green will walk away from the deal, but the tycoon has